SUNNYVALE,CA - Due to the later then normal season that the NCAA Festival brings every fourth year, the 'Cats were able to run in Santa Clara's Bronco Invite this fall. Typically the Bronco meet lands the week before CCAA's, which of course pushes it outside of our usual yearly schedule. In festival years the Bronco meet oftentimes becomes the final competitive invite that we can get to for a last championship-prep race. With Invitational and Open races for each gender we had the opportunity to field 4 scoring teams, which is great for a team with the depth that we have.

In the pre-race talk the evening before the competition yours truly spoke to the opportunity to potentially grab 4 team wins on Saturday if everyone could do a good job of taking care of business in their respective races.

I'm happy to report that on Saturday your Wildcats DID grab all 4 team wins, while competing against all divisions of competition, and while resting 4 men who have run among the team's top-7 this season. Each race offered a unique challenge, and all 4 scoring squads found a way to get the job done. We've had a lot of days through the years that have helped put us on the map of distance running programs in the West, and Saturday was certainly one of them. At the end of the day athletes and coaches had a lot to be proud of. Please follow along below for short re-caps of each race along with results.

Invitational Men's 8k:

The Chico men would start the races Saturday a bit short handed, as Mario Giannini and Damian Garcia (top 2 finishers in the 2025 CCAA Championships) would be rested in order to focus on the post season. The Wildcats would also be without the services of our #2 finisher from last week's Dellinger Invite (Sean Alliegro) who aggravated a foot tendon in OR, but is already back training at full strength. Also, Alex Lamoureux (the 'Cats #4 in the St Mary's meet) had a severe ankle sprain a week after our opener, and has Just returned to running after 18 days of cross training.

Without a doubt we weren't at 100 percent going into Saturday, BUT we're fortunate to have great depth, and the circumstances would allow others to shine as they helped to get the job done on the scoreboard. We ended up entering 14 men in the Invite race and around 7 in the Open.

Leading the way for the 'Cats throughout the Invite run was Junior Sergio Cuartas, who showed signs of greatness a year ago, but had consistency issues that had him leading the team at one meet, and then well behind on others. This year Sergio has really stepped up his racing and as I re-capped the run with him after, he mentioned that the first four miles felt like a tempo run for him. Pretty impressive given that he ended up running a 23:47 for the established 8k layout.

Most of the Chico guys got out pretty well in the Invite race, but host Santa Clara was clearly determined to hold serve on the home course in this one, as they led the real time team scores for at least half of the race.

Fairly early in the run a few post-collegiate unattached athletes left the pack, and a chase group of 20-25 athletes followed some distance behind. The 'Cats had four guys among this leading group with true frosh Alijah Murillo spearheading the attack, operating among the top 5-6 through the first 10 minutes of competition. Sergio followed relatively closely, as did Matthew Gordon and Michael Torres. Santa Clara had all scorers among this group and held a 10ish point lead on the 'Cats who ran in second.

By the half way point of the run the 'Cats had taken a slight edge over the Broncos, as several of our guys who had gone out among a large second group, began to overtake some tiring Broncos who'd been operating among the leading pack. Alijah had given up some spots after a bit of a "frisky" start, but he locked in enough over the second half to seal a solid run.

The 'Cats did some nice work in the closing meters to seal a convincing victory. Cuartas' sub 24 run gave him an 8th place finish. Michael Torres would record a massive 8k PR with his 24:00 effort for 13th overall, and Matthew Gordon would cross some 8 seconds later in 16th. Alijah would hold on for 18th (24:11 PR) while teammate Steph Chapdelaine would close like a freight train for 19th (24:13 PB) sealing the victory as well. Joseph DePascale (24th/24:20) and Charlie Brennan (31st/24:25) would both add points to runner-up SCU's final tally with their strong finishes. Peter Kendall, Andrew Stevens, Preston Mullin and Adrian Hipolito would all cross the tape before 25 minutes had expired, giving the 'Cats squads some nice momentum going into the next 3 races. One race down, one win on the board!

Invitational Women's 6k:

A week removed from a come from behind 3rd place showing at Oregon's Dellinger Invite, the 'Cats welcomed back top runner Della Molina into the line-up. Molina would be a handy tool given that the 'Cats would be up against some formidable teams, including CCAA rival Stanislaus, who hadn't raced since early September, when they won their home invite with a meet record team average over UCSB and others.

For those who were fortunate enough to witness the 2025 CCAA championships you can remember the epic duel between Stanislaus and Chico on the women's side. Stanislaus sprung out to a large lead early, but the 'Cats slowly clawed their way back, and stormed home in the final loop to grab the victory. Saturday's Bronco race was Very similar. Looking at the 2.3k mat splits Stan had all 5 scorers running among the top 15 overall. The 'Cats on the other hand had Della running in third and Paulina Martins in 14th. Megan Malloy slotted in 28th, with teammates Olivia Beschorner and Sienna Bianchi following in 49th and 59th positions. Stan was winning the race with 47 points. USF and Cal Poly's B teams followed in 2nd and 3rd with 64 and 124 points. Thankfully there was nearly 15 minutes of racing yet to be run, and this women's team has a history of executing late.

The next mile of racing brought a sizeable shift in momentum. Della continued to race with sister Iresh, as the pair traded surges in 2nd and 3rd positions behind eventual race winner Milaina Almonte (Santa Clara) and safely ahead of all pursuers. Stan's top runner ran in 5th position, but Megan Malloy and Paulina ran in 11th and 12th, having passed the majority of Stan's scorers over the previous loop of the course. Stan's 2,3,4,5 all passed through this checkpoint among the top 20, but all were giving up places with each passing kilometer. Chico's 4,5,6 Olivia, Sienna, and Kira Forsberg had all moved up substantially and now ran in 32nd, 38th and 39th places. Team scores at 3.7k= Stan-63, USF-73, Chico-85. With just over a mile remaining the 'Cats had some work to do, but clearly had momentum on their side.

The final circuit of the Baylands park brought similar momentum as the previous one had, which was good news for the Chico women. Almonte finished off a brilliant race at the front, taking the win in 20:00. Battling it out for 2nd were the Molina sisters, with the pair being tagged with identical times (go figure) but Della claiming bragging rights for the week. Those who have followed us closely won't be surprised to hear that the next two finishers across the line were Megan Malloy and Paulina Martins. Stan's #1 would finish 5 seconds back in 6th, while their second and third had fallen back to 12th and 17th. Olivia Beschorner (19th), Kira Beschorner (24), and Sienna Bianchi (25th) would all cross the line before Stan's #4 Izzy Soto (26th). Team scores at the finish revealed a massive come from behind victory for the 'Cats.. 1. Chico State: 46, 2. Stanislaus: 77, 3. USF: 95.

I'll have to admit, there was a point during the run where I wasn't sure we had enough on the day to get the job done, But these ladies never give up, and once again came home victorious. Two races down, two wins in the books!

Open Men's 6k:

Given that we were resting 4 top guys on the day, and had just run 14 in the Invite race, the men's open run looked on paper to potentially be our biggest chance at Not garnering a team win. The message to the 7 Chico guys on the line was that we needed each of them to be on board with running for each other and for the team. We had little room for error, and the temperatures were climbing on what was to be the final hot day in Nor Cal this long summer.

The guys did a solid job of racing hard, but also saving something for the second half, which would be more challenging than usual given the rising temps and exposed course. Leading the way throughout was RS frosh Joshua Guzman, who managed to stick with a very defined chase pack that trailed the eventual top 2 finishers (who'd sailed off the front early). Jackson Stream had joined Guzman early on, but his body has not been 100 percent, so he spent much of the second half employing damage control in order to help the team. Wes Selby, who's just returning to racing after a year plus of medical issues, battled well throughout despite having very little actual running behind him. Zion Ortiz moved well through the middle of the race and at one point ran among the top 10 overall, but the heat and difficulty caught up a bit over the final 2k.

Despite the challenges that the crew faced the Chico men would prevail on the scoreboard. Joshua Guzman would lead the guys with a 6th place effort (25:17), while Ortiz would hold on for 11th (26:02). Selby would take 13th just a few seconds back, while Jackson Stream and Rowan Henry would finish off the scoring with 19th and 22nd place finishes. True frosh Brady Bleisner also enjoyed his best race of the season taking 24th. The score after 3 races on the day.. Chico-3, Bronco competition: 0 ;v)

Open Women's 6k:

As yours truly addressed the small army of determined women in the pre-race huddle before the final race of the day, I Knew we were about to sweep the day. Our women's team is as fast at the front as it's ever been, but even while placing our top 13 in the Invite race, we sent 10+ very fit women to the line in the Open run. How good is this crew you ask? Well, April Anguiano ran 17:30 for 5k last spring as a true frosh. Her teammate Mattie Whipple is a 2:10 800m runner who ran in the low 18's for 5k XC in HS.. This was a very capable group of Wildcat women, and they ran like it.

From the gun the Chico ladies established themselves among the top quarter of the field, with a good portion of our top 7 running among the top 20 in the early going.

As the pack entered the second mile, previously mentioned Mattie Whipple took the overall lead and began chasing the lead bike. Anguiano, and teammates Katelyn Espino, Grace Reed, Jimena Rivera, Abigail Lamb, and Alice McCarty ran among a decently sized chase group, giving the 'Cats a sizeable early margin in the team scoring.

As the race developed Whipple continued to chase the lead bike and held the front until around a half mile remaining, when Jessup's Angela Gladysh overhauled the Yreka native and sprinted to the win. Mattie would hold on for second overall while recording a seasonal best 22:17 finish time. April Anguiano would finish next for the 'Cats in 4th place while Grace Reed and Abigail Lamb gave the Chico women 4 of the top-10 finishers. Jimena Rivera (13th), Alice McCarthy (14th), and Katelyn Espino (15th) would seal the convincing 26-64 victory over Clovis CC (the 2nd ranked JC team in the state this season).

Next up: We'll have two bye weeks upcoming followed by the 2026 CCAA Championships to be hosted by Cal St. San Bernardino, on their campus course (Saturday Nov. 7).